Wᴇʟʟ, I'ᴠᴇ ɢᴏᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴜɴ ᴛᴏ ᴋᴇᴇᴘ ғʀᴏᴍ ʜɪᴅɪɴ'

[righteously]

Who: Winchester & Co.
When: September
Where: Free Cities, Libertas, & the Horizon
What: Quests, training, or Roadhouse socializing.
Warnings: Suicidal tendencies, alcoholism, other psychological traumas.

Aɴᴅ I ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ ᴏᴡɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʟᴏᴛʜᴇs I'ᴍ ᴡᴇᴀʀɪɴɢ
Aɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴏᴀᴅ ɢᴏᴇs ᴏɴ ғᴏʀᴇᴠᴇʀ
Aɴᴅ I'ᴠᴇ ɢᴏᴛ ᴏɴᴇ ᴍᴏʀᴇ sɪʟᴠᴇʀ ᴅᴏʟʟᴀʀ
Bᴜᴛ I'ᴍ ɴᴏᴛ ɢᴏɴɴᴀ ʟᴇᴛ 'ᴇᴍ ᴄᴀᴛᴄʜ ᴍᴇ, ɴᴏ
Nᴏᴛ ɢᴏɴɴᴀ ʟᴇᴛ 'ᴇᴍ ᴄᴀᴛᴄʜ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍɪᴅɴɪɢʜᴛ ʀɪᴅᴇʀ

Comments

[nadine_he_loves]

[Nadine honestly isn't sure how much good this will do, but...she'd said long ago that anything that could be used to protect against Flagg was worth learning. So this is worth learning. Besides...Dean is something of an expert when it comes to demons and dark forces. She trusts him on these things, and if he thinks she should learn, she will.

Dusting off her hands as she steps back, nodding.]

Yeah...I mean, as ready as I'll ever be, I guess.

[How does one prepare for this sort of thing? Steel themselves? She isn't even entirely sure what she'll be facing off against - 'demon' is a very broad term that covers many things.

At least this is all within the safety of the Horizon.]

[righteously]

Good enough.

( He affirms brusquely, and pushes off of the bar to stride forward toward the circle. Two, three, four seconds pass while he concentrates — and then quite suddenly, it's there. A chair in the center of the devil's trap, and a person strapped to it. Hands bound to the chair arms, eyes black, staring up at Nadine with a sneer. It's a man, blonde, scruffy. Denim-clad. Maybe he reminds her of something — maybe the Horizon pulls it from her, or maybe it's sheer coincidence.

Generic, unnamed demon number three. A template amalgamation of every low-level demon Dean's ever dispatched — and he's dispatched a lot of them.

"Aw, cute. What is this? Hunting lessons for your slut? I'm quaking in my boots."

Dean ignores it. )

You got three main tools in your kit for dealing with demons. Holy water, salt, and the piece de resistance: exorcism.

( Let's start with the former.

He holds out a flask of holy water. The moment it comes in contact with the demon, it'll start to smoke, to burn, flesh will sizzle, and that thing'll start screaming — probably cursing her out toes to nose. )

[nadine_he_loves]

[While not sure what to expect, this...isn't exactly it. It strikes a lot more personally than she'd anticipated and she finds herself rather frozen in place. The Horizon can be like that, sometimes. Like the clouds in her domain, she has little control over them, they change to suit her moods.

She really shouldn't be surprised.

After a moment, she reaches for the holy water. This she's seen in dozens of movies. Steeling herself, encouraging herself inside her head, she unscrews the cap and flicks the holy water at the 'demon'.

And promptly steps back with a small gasp at the result.]

I'm...I'm not so sure about this...

[righteously]

( He settles in beside her — not crowding, but close enough that he can place a firm hand on her shoulder and give it a gentle, reassuring squeeze. )

Hey. ( Look at me. ) You got this.

( The demon, who'd been screeching with burning pain, descends into peels of hideous laughter.

"Got this? You don't got anything. Don't kid yourself, princess," he chuckles hoarsely. A moment later comes an amendment, "Or should I say queen?" )

[nadine_he_loves]

[While Dean's support is certainly welcome, it's anger that gets Nadine in the right gear. The fear fades and a hot flare of anger rises up in her at the phantasmal demon's words. Her eyes narrow and her jaw sets and her narrow shoulders square.]

I am a queen.

[Of nowhere and no-one, in no way that truly matters, but even so. She was raised to be a queen, and she's certainly more powerful now than she's ever been in her life. Half of what she's done in the last year is practice and build up whatever skills she can that could be useful against Flagg, should he ever return. And whatever had happened, no matter that she mostly rejects him now, he had made her his queen.

She shakes the holy water at the thing violently, eyes still narrowed into furious slits, as though she intends to soak it entirely. Or come as close as she can.]

[righteously]

( Wow. Okay.

Not exactly the reaction he'd have banked on, and his expression flashes a mixture of surprised and a little impressed. You know, in another life, Nadine might've made a damn fine hunter.

Not that he'll ever say that to anybody that isn't one already, lest it be confused with him approving of a career change. )

Atta girl, your majesty. ( Said lightly, approvingly. The demon screams, smokes, sizzles, and Dean reaches into his pocket to pull out a scrap of paper. ) Hang on to some of that, you're gonna wanna use it to shut that thing up while you read this.

( It's a short string of word scrawled in Latin.

Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus, omnis satanica potestas, omnis incursio infernalis adversarii, omnis legio, omnis congregatio et secta diabolica. Ergo, omnis legio diabolica, adiuramus te. )

It's gonna say whatever it can, whatever it thinks will get you to stop and respond. Don't. Just power through.

[nadine_he_loves]

Yeah, I don't think that's going to get the response it wants.

[Nadine's angry now. It's about far more than this facsimile before her, but it makes a very nice target to let it all out. She wants to hurt it. It's awful, she knows the impulse is awful, but...

It's not even a real thing. It's all mist and magic, just a figment born of Dean's and her own minds. If she really wanted, she could probably just vanish it or turn it into a puppy. Not that she would, it would defeat the whole purpose of this. But she could, and so there's no guilt or shame at letting out some long-pent up anger at it.

Taking a deep breath, she begins reading from the slip of paper Dean's given her. At least her Latin pronunciation is flawless - one benefit of a strongly Catholic upbringing.]

[righteously]

( Scratch that — Nadine would've made a fucking fantastic hunter.

He knows that pain, that anger, that ugly desire to hurt. He knows what it feels like to be fueled by spite, to feel satisfied by it.

He knows it intimately.

It's not something most standard civilians would pick up on right away, but like recognizes like. Even so, the few who did sense that in her would probably be more likely to scale things down. Reel it back. Feel concern, come at this with a softer touch, maybe we should stop, or are you okay, or the awkward uncomfortable silence that follows seeing someone do something a little too morally grey for their tastes.

Not him.

Call and response. He senses it on a subconscious level, and what radiates from him in turn is cold, hard approval. )

Good.

( Simply, but knowingly.

Midway through her reading, insults turn into choking. Choking turns into coughing. A thick cloud of black smoke erupts from its mouth, filling the air, circling organically, something alive and thriving and angry — and powerless.

At the last word, it plunges downward and disappears into the floorboards. )

[nadine_he_loves]

[By the time it's done, Nadine is breathing hard and tense, but she hasn't backed down. It made her feel powerful, despite this being the Horizon. The whole point of these lessons is that they replicate what would happen in real life.

Maybe it's because of her childhood, so heavily steeped in the laws and lore of Catholicism, but the idea of exorcism is one that means something to her already. While many of her newly acquired skills had lived in the realm of fantasy, exorcism was a sort of 'magic' that had always been accepted as part of life. Not hers, exactly, but she'd never doubted there were priests out there doing the real thing.

And now she can. Or at least the basics.]

That felt good.

[righteously]

( That confession earns Nadine a faintly arched eyebrow — amused, still visibly pleased. It's a hell of an improvement, going from that uncertainty at the start to this. )

You ready to go again?

( And if she is, they will — a few more times, the scenario similar if perhaps a bit more vitriol rolling out of the manifested demon's mouth to push her buttons. He just wants to get to the point where it seems like she can just about recite it without the paper — maybe not outright memorize it so soon, but anything close is a win in his book.

By the time they wrap up, she'll earn herself an I'm proud of you beer for her troubles. )